Art Therapy: The Healing Power of Colour

Colour has a potency in every side of life. From birth to death, our life scenario covers colour notionally and perceptibly. We perceive and experience them, thus we become more aware of them. The day starts with the sunrise colour and ends with the sunset colour and in between we also witness various colours with different tones and shades in the natural environment. We design our personal environments and feel the sense of belonging with the use of our favorite and suitable colours in the design process. Each colour has its own meaning. Thus, each of them evokes different feelings. This suggests that with its potency, it may affect human beings psychologically, physiologically and behaviorally. Each colour and colour combination has its own sensation. They individually or as in relation to each other have a potential of becoming eye irritants and causing headaches. Their appropriate usage can maximize productivity and relax the whole body.

It could affect not only people’s emotions but also their brain waves, hearth rates, blood pressures and respiratory rates (Kaiser, 1984; Martinson & Bukoski, 2005), secretions of hormones, reactions to stresses, the autonomic nervous system and the cerebral cortex where emotions are located (Jin et al., 2009). In their study, Jin et al. (2009) reported that the red colour appeared to have the most effect on emotional changes and directly affected subjects’ parasympathetic nerve system activity which adjusted the blood pressure, the heart rate and the respiratory rates below the normal level. The effect of colours on physiological functions of the body has been effectively used as colour therapy in various medical fields such as depression and cancer.

There is an ancient and widespread faith in the healing power of colour (Helen, 1983). Therefore, colour is suggested to be used as a treatment tool as regard to colour healing. Colour healers believe in chakras that are evaluated as being energy centres within the human body (O’Connor, 2011). These energy centres are formed by seven chakras. If there is too much or too little energy in each chakra in other words no balance in the energy of chakras then emotional wellbeing and personality are influenced (Mahnke, 1996). Each chakra gets along with one of the spectral colours that is illustrated below and proper balance in the energy of chakras is restored through colour therapy.

• Vertex chakra (violet) stands for wisdom, and spiritual energy. It influences the pituitary gland.
• Forehead chakra (indigo) stands for intuition (third eye) and influences the pineal gland.
• Larynx chakra (blue) stands for religious inspiration, creativity, language and communication. It influences the thyroid gland.
• Heart chakra (green, pink) stands for love, sympathy and harmony. It influences the heart and the thymus gland.
• Solar plexus chakra (yellow) stands for knowledge, intellect and is also the seat of tension. It influences the solar plexus and the adrenal body.
• Spleen chakra (orange) stands for energy, and it influences the spleen and pancreas.
• Basis chakra (red) stands for life and reproduction. It influences the sex glands and sexual organs.

Kopacz (as cited in O’Connor, 2011) associated colours with body functions and dysfunctions within each chakra area, such as:

• Red: Activates the circulation system and benefits the five senses; used to treat colds, paralysis, anaemia, ailments of the bloodstream and ailments of the lung;
• Blue: Raises metabolism; is used to stabilize the heart, muscles and bloodstream; used to treat burns, skin diseases, glaucoma, measles and chicken pox, and throat problems;
• Green: Strengthens bones and muscles, disinfects bacteria and virus, and relieves tension; used to treat malaria, back problems, cancer, nervous disorders, and ulcers, and to manage heart problems and blood pressure.

The physical influences of colour on human beings provoke psychological reactions and psychological manners towards colour impress bodily responses. This means colour pervades all aspects of the whole man, his body, mind, spirit, and emotion.

Many psychiatrists and psychologists have noted that reactions to colour are more impulsive and emotional (Birren, 1988). Therefore, colour can have strong influences on people’s moods and emotions. Helen (1983) explained emotional reactions to colour as:

Light of different colours entering the eye can indirectly affect the centre of the emotions in the hypothalamus, which in turn affects the pituitary gland. This ‘master’ gland controls the entire endocrine system, including the thyroid and sex glands, and so controls the hormone levels of this system and the moods consequents upon them.

In light of the given reasoned chain, medical circles are using colour as an effective method of treatment by stimulating psychological emotion with colour. The psychological responses to colour are generally studied with their qualitative descriptions in the literature such as anxiety, aggression, and happiness.